Bill Cortell

Bill "Cougar" Cortell (1961-) was a naval aviator of the US Navy.

Biography
Bill Cortell was born in 1961 and enlisted in the US Navy, becoming one of the top aviators in the United States. He was at the top of his squadron and would have entered the elite "Top Gun" school, but he retired after an unfortunate twist of events. In 1986, Cortell and his RIO Samuel "Merlin" Wells flew out to ward off communist MiG-28s when they threatened the carrier USS Enterprise, but he was caught in the missile lock of an enemy plane and had a panic attack. He sweated profusely and could not stop looking at the picture of his wife and son, and Pete "Maverick" Mitchell had to give up landing his low-fuel plane to fly out to Cortell and encourage him to land back on the carrier. Cortell crash-landed the plane on the carrier's deck, but nobody was injured. Cortell decided to turn in his wings and quit the Navy, as he feared that his son would be orphaned before he ever knew his father.